SF Moment: Hospitals & Wirelessness

Friend is trapped in the hospital without her Internet connection. I’m like a chicken running around with its head cut off. Got a friend to donate a powerbook to her for her stay, but upon arrival we found no wireless networks. Not to be thwarted: checked with the adminstration there, and no, there is “absolutely” no WWW hook-up. I thought they protested too much. Next visit, I come with the powerbook and a phone cord. No dial tone- we narrow it down through thorough unit and system testing to the powerbook’s modem card. Owner of powerbook is unreachable. Another visitor tries to get her work Treo to access more than just her work account. PDAs are swapped about, we talk about getting her AWOL to an internet cafe. It’s all a madcap caper. I can’t believe, in downtown SF (well, the Castro) that we are having this under-connected moment. I feel like I’m at WineCamp. My next mission is to get patients to be able to research doctor’s gobbleygook online before and after consultations.

3 Comments so far

there may be medical reasons why wifi isn’t blocked . . . most hospitals forbid the use of cellphones – partly for quiet – and partly for the same reasons why microwaves are kept away from the cardiac wing – right?

We had this discussion, a few of us, over my friend’s hospital bed. It had to do with a radius from the machines, when that was a risk. but now, i was told, but with current technology in hubs and medical equip., no longer an issue. My friend was encouraged to use her cell phone at that hospital, also.